Fate: last stardust
by SlowQuotesQuill
Summary: AU. "Pardon me, Master, but you look so like someone I knew a lifetime ago." In an ironic twist, Heroic Spirit Emiya gets summoned to a Holy Grail War in another world and finds that he is contracted to Arturia, a human girl living in Fuyuki who eerily looks like Saber. Most likely, this can only be Fate's idea of a good joke.
1. Night of fate—The appearance of Archer

**Fate/last stardust**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**  
[Night of fate—The appearance of Archer]

* * *

 _This glass heart, covered in scratches, lights a fever I've nearly forgotten  
Last stardust, climb the skies!  
Dust to dust, earth to earth, into the distance;  
Oh fragments of dreams, into eternity!_

— **LAST STARDUST** , Aimer

* * *

Seventeen-year-old Arturia Pendragon absently pulled off her glove and rubbed the strange-looking bruise on the back of her right hand as she watched two of the seniors of her kendo club start fighting it out. Her cuirass felt a bit tight across her chest as she breathed hard, having just finished her own sparring match.

"Good job back there, Arturia-kun, as always," said the club captain, a tall girl with long hair in a single braid. Noticing what Arturia was doing with her right hand, she frowned. "What's that on your hand?"

"Oh, this is nothing, Captain. A little bruise." Arturia quickly put her glove back on, covering the mark. "Do you think we'll be okay for next month's tournament? Some of the juniors seem a bit out of shape to me."

"Well, actually I was thinking—"

To her relief, the club captain dropped the issue and quickly launched on an analysis of the other members' performances. At once, Arturia instinctively tightened her left hand over her right, as if trying to protect it.

She just noticed the weird reddish bruise last night while she was preparing to go to sleep. This morning over breakfast, she had successfully distracted her brothers and father from noticing her hand, but she couldn't be sure if she'll manage to avoid letting her eldest brother, Kay, from seeing it when she got home after club practice. Kay had such sharp eyes when it came to his little sister that Arturia was secretly pleased he had gone to work early today and had failed to see her go to breakfast with that on her hand. He would have assumed that she got into a fight or something and refused to let her leave the house.

As she walked home, she noticed that a heavy chill was present in the air, a strange fact. _Fuyuki's winters were never this severe before._ Stopping at a red light, Arturia solemnly pulled up her red-checked scarf to cover the lower part of her face and shoved her hands in her coat pockets, looking forward to the heater in their living room. However—

"Oi, that's the King of Knights."

Her eyes narrowed at the sound of the title. Turning on her heel, she scowled at the only people who had thought to call her that as an insult, rather as an honor—the gang of teenaged bullies that had been terrorizing younger students around Fuyuki. Apparently, her act of standing up to them when she caught them in the act of forcing a young middle-school girl to give up her pocket money was unprecedented, and they started calling her King of Knights after that. Arturia figured that the title was meant to make fun of her bravery rather than commend her.

"Your Majesty," the leader was saying in a mocking tone, and made a half-bow and a smirk. "What have we done to merit the honor of being graced by your presence?"

Arturia exhaled slowly, her breath coming out in a white mist. "I guess even people like you know how to speak prettily."

"What was that, bitch?" The gang leader started forward.

Arturia's hand instinctively went to her shoulder to grab her practice sword—but to her dismay, she grasped nothing but thin air. She felt herself swallow.

 _I must've left it at the dojo._ She remembered her absentmindedness back at club practice—it wasn't farfetched that she'd forget and leave her sword behind when she changed back into her uniform and left the changing room while worrying about explaining away the bruise on her hand.

"Lucky."

That was the last word she heard before they finally grabbed at her.

* * *

"How'd you like that, Majesty?"

Arturia opened her eyes. Above her, the night sky stretched endlessly, the wispy clouds looking almost like tendrils of smoke. The moon occasionally peeked through them, letting its light fall on her face. Her eyes shone, almost like emeralds, but they also had a shred of fear in them. Fear of the unknown.

She could feel grass and stones pressing against her back, her arms tight with pain as she experimentally moved them and felt the ropes against her wrists. They must have carried her to some empty lot, just to make her settle her debt to them. In a way, she was honored that these scum would fear her so and make this huge an effort, but in a way she was scared—she could hear Kay telling her from a memory—"Strong you might be, but you're just still a girl, Arturia."

"You awake, Highness?"

Arturia turned her head to the best of her ability and glared at the ringleader. "What are you trying to accomplish?"

"Simple. We just don't want resistance against our activities, of any kind." He spat at the grass. "We don't want our victims getting ideas about that little girl who beat up two of my men, y'see. Don't want them to think that we're that easy to fight."

"You bunch of cowardly _filth_."

Arturia's little statement earned her a kick to the stomach. Doubling over in pain, she coughed repeatedly as the gang gathered around her and began laughing raucously, looking almost like a pack of vultures.

"You'll have to pay for that one, valiant King of Knights."

"Mess 'er up!"

"Mess 'er up!"

"Mess 'er up!"

Their excited cheers were resounding into the night as Arturia stared dazedly up at the gang leader and braced for the next blow from his upraised fist.

 _They're probably going to kill me._

Her brothers' faces, especially that of doting and overprotective Kay, flashed through her mind.

 _Everyone's looking for me by now._

The fist slammed down, going for her jaw. Arturia whimpered involuntarily as he raised his fist for another strike—

 _I have to go back home. I don't want to die._

Bam.

 _I don't want to die_ —bam— _I don't want to die_ —bam—

 _I don't want to die._

"NO!"

She felt a burning sensation on her right hand. A flash of red burned her tightly-closed eyelids as she screamed—and suddenly—

"What—"

"Who the _hell_ are you?"

She could hear the panicked shouting of the boys around her, moving away from her as if to confront the stranger that suddenly appeared in the scene, and a deep masculine voice suddenly pierced the night—

"What is the world coming to?"

"What?"—the gang leader's voice was loud and shrill. In spite of her pain, Arturia smiled.

The strange man was unfazed, his voice just the right mix of steady and slightly sardonic. "This gathering is clearly suspicious activity, but I don't think this is anything that warrants a Guardian."

Arturia heard the cocking of a gun. One of her assailants was clearly in illegal possession of a firearm. She tried to get up and tell the intruder that he should get out, get away from here, before anything else might happen, but her body was numb and wouldn't respond to her command—

"That's a mistake, I'm telling you."—the stranger seemed foolishly confident.

 _Clang_. Steel on steel—and then the sound of something falling on the grass.

Arturia agonizingly turned her body to better see what was going on. Her cramping arms, tied behind her, protested in more pain, but she managed to see a glimpse of the stranger at last—and the knocking legs of the terrified gunman.

 _Did… did he…_

Did he just destroy that pistol with a swipe of that sword in his hand? That was what seemed to be going on in the mind of every person in the lot.

Even Arturia, an expert swordsman in her own right, cannot help but feel amazed.

Seeing how the stranger just cleaved the gun in two as if slicing through butter, a fearful yell and the running of footsteps on the grass told Arturia that the gang had finally scattered and escaped. For her part, she just stared at the man before her, unaware that she was finally safe. She noticed, absently, that the moonlight has broken through the clouds again and has streamed onto his face, giving Arturia a glimpse of the strange man's white hair and serious gaze as he turned around to take in his surroundings. The brilliant red of his cloak was accentuated in silvery brilliance, while his tanned skin shone like burnished copper.

"What…" Arturia heard herself ask, her voice like the grating of nails on a chalkboard.

In a flash, she found herself pinned against the ground, a blade pressed threateningly against her neck. She could only glimpse at the man's deadly gray eyes for a moment before they passed from a state of fury into a state of shock.

 _"Saber?"_

"S-Saber?" Arturia gulped, but she felt the blade finally move away from her throat. "You mean… a sword?"

The red man seemed caught off-guard by her question and finally backed off, an indefinable expression on his face. "Did they bring you here?"

"Yes." Arturia flinched as her arms cramped again.

Realizing her discomfort, the red man turned her and cut her bonds off easily. He looked around at the empty lot, and then at Arturia's right hand, which had involuntarily moved to her neck to feel the slight wound left by the blade.

"A… Command Seal." He was staring at her right hand so intensely that Arturia had to look, and felt a jolt as she stared at the mark on the back. What was once a shapeless bruise was now a tattoo-like mark done in deep red, with a sword-like mark in the center and symmetrical web-like patterns at the sides. It looked a bit like a fleur-de-lis, but also not quite. Arturia's eyes admired the mark for a few seconds before going to focus on the red man again. For the first time, she noticed that his aura seemed very heavy.

"…You've got to be kidding me."

He was chuckling bitterly. He seemed like a very cynical sort of person, Arturia decided, as he threw his head back and laughed mirthlessly. "So that's how it is. This is a very ugly joke, if it is one," he finally said, sobering up. "Damn you, Alaya."

His gray eyes are very beautiful, but also very sad. Lost in his melancholy, Arturia dimly wondered who this Alaya person was. "Who are you?" Arturia asked him, trying to get up and failing as her arms shook and gave out. She placed an unsteady hand on one trembling knee.

The red man seemed resigned when he finally replied.

"It seems that I am the Servant Archer, sent to answer to your summons."

"Servant…?" Arturia frowned. "I don't understand. Explain yourself." It came out rather commandingly, to her embarrassment. And yet—

—To her surprise, the man was laughing. Not like the cynical laugh of a moment ago, but an amused one. A nostalgic one, almost.

"Ar… Archer, is it?" Arturia began, but the Servant Archer held up his hand.

"Pardon me, Master, but you look so like someone I knew a lifetime ago, I can't help but think that you're the same person."

"M-Master?"

"Why, yes." His tone was tinged with a slight sarcastic edge which was probably involuntary. "Because if I'm right, I've just been summoned to take part in the Holy Grail War… and you, fortunately or unfortunately, are my Master."

* * *

She hoped that Kay was still at work—he can be really overprotective at times and wouldn't let her hear the end of it now that she has gone home later than usual.

To her relief, the house seemed quiet when she finally got back home in the evening, except for the sounds of the television in the living room. Thinking that her younger brother Bedivere was watching his favorite show as usual, Arturia shrugged and went past the doorway—

"Arturia. Where were you?"

The guarded voice of her brother Kay, who was suddenly standing on the doorway, stopped her in her tracks. Arturia instinctively averted her bruised jaw from him, but his chilling tone had alerted her that it might be a bit too late. In her coat pocket, the hand containing the Command Seals trembled slightly.

"What's that?" Kay immediately grabbed her chin and turned her face toward him in a harsher gesture than was necessary. He squinted at the bruises, which, to Arturia's consternation, would probably look worse than they actually are—which certainly did not help her case.

"Nothing." Arturia tried to pry his fingers off her jaw, but Kay was too strong.

"You've been fighting those blasted boys again. I swear, Arturia, if you don't stop picking fights with them, you'll—"

"But they were _hurting the kids_!"

They both paused in shock at this sudden outburst from the normally dignified Arturia. Breathlessly, Arturia shook her hand from Kay's now-slack grip and just stood there on the hallway awkwardly, embarrassed at her outburst.

"Arturia…"

"What is it?" Arturia's eyes were down, but at Kay's patronizing tone, she blazed back up. "Don't you _ever_ tell me to stay away from those bullies, Kay. They don't have the right to do that to someone who's weaker than them…"

"There you go again with this _chivalrous knight_ _bullcrap_." Kay's voice was rising too. "These are dangerous times and _you're_ just a girl. Those gang kids will mess you up real bad if—"

"I'm in the kendo club. I'm next in line to be captain, they tell me." Furious, Arturia started edging away from her brother and in the direction of her room. "I'm not _just a girl_ who—"

"Who what?" Kay started towards her. "You're not some superhero, Arturia! You're a normal girl! You can't just expect to get away unharmed every time— Arturia!"

—Fed up, Arturia had run upstairs to her room and slammed the door behind her, shaking with bridled emotion.

 _He was underestimating me again…_

 _What does my gender have to do with being able to protect myself?_

"Arturia!" Kay was banging on her door, but Arturia had already twisted the lock.

"Shut up!" Arturia can feel her bruised stomach stinging again as she sank to her knees on the floor, but dealing with her angry tears was far more important. _I am not weak._ She wiped them angrily with her good hand. "Leave me alone!"

Kay had finally given up when their other siblings had come out and demanded to know what was going on, leaving Arturia in relative silence. Considering that it was finally safe, Archer finally materialized again, having been silently observing the little family drama all along.

"Seems like you have some complicated matters as well."

Arturia looked up at Archer, startled.

"My apologies. But you really have got to get used to my comings and goings soon." Archer sat on the bed, while Arturia just remained seated on the floor, clutching her stomach and face. "Are you alright, Master?"

"Yes." Arturia sniffled. "I've had worse."

Archer scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I'll bring you some ice if you want. When they're all asleep."

Arturia shook her head. "It's okay. But more importantly, this Holy Grail War… was all what you told me true?"

"I'm afraid so. Those Command Seals aren't just for show." Archer looked thoughtful. "I've already told you the basic whatnot about the War, but you'll just properly appreciate them once the battle actually starts." He scowled. "Actually, what's puzzling me more is the fact that you have Magic Circuits. Otherwise, the rest of your family looks normal people to me. I can't sense any mana being used in this house other than what you're giving me right now."

"Oh." Arturia sighed. "I was actually raised by a family friend when my parents died. You could say that we're not actually relatives at all. My surviving paternal uncle is some sort of eccentric who didn't like children so I was shunted off to my father's best friend, but I didn't think…"

For a moment, Arturia felt Archer gravely look at her, but then he shrugged. "So you think that your uncle and your dad are Magi. That makes sense then."

Arturia nodded. "Because of my circumstances, I didn't really properly study magic. My uncle tried to teach me once when I was younger, but I'm afraid I didn't really see the point of it so I neglected my studies."

"Well, as long as your Magic Circuits are intact and functioning, maintaining me shouldn't be a problem… But if you don't know any functional magic, that could be a huge difficulty in the long run. There are times when we can be separated and have to act on our own, you see. A Master like yourself is practically a sitting duck." Archer cocked his head at her. Arturia can feel herself become indignant.

"I can fight."

Her quiet, determined voice made Archer smirk.

"Oh, really?"

Arturia took a long cloth-covered bundle that was resting on brackets mounted on the wall. She unwrapped the cloth and took out a simple, elegant Japanese sword. "I can't bring this to school because of the rules, so normally I just use the practice swords in the dojo. However…" Archer saw a glint of cold steel as she slowly slid the sword out of its scabbard. "Kendo becomes surprisingly fatal when one does not play around."

Archer gave her a long, calculated look, which Arturia returned steadily. Finally, Archer sighed.

"You're a strange woman."

"What?"

Archer laughed. "I meant what I meant. You're fundamentally different from the woman I knew—and yet you're very similar to her. Till now, I'm not sure if the world is just playing me for a fool."

Arturia smiled.

"So, Archer, have you accepted me?"

"Yes." Archer held out his hand, and Arturia gingerly shook it. "The pact has been sealed."

* * *

"The last Master has already contracted with the Servant Archer." The overseer's voice was deep and echoing, and as he faced the empty church, he couldn't help but place a hand over his chest, as if one irresistibly toying with the scab of a long-healed wound.

"I see." The Servant suddenly materialized out of thin air, and the moonlight streaming through the window hit him square on his comely and proud face. On his hips, a pair of demonic swords was slung on each side, glinting with a subdued power. "My lady thanks you."

"Oh, no matter." Kotomine Kirei smiled. "Tell her that I send her my regards, Saber."


	2. First blood—VS Saber

**Fate/last stardust**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**  
[First blood—VS Saber]

* * *

 _Even though I depend on someone,  
There is nothing else that I wish for  
My true self is right here,  
Don't close your eyes_

— **disillusion** , Tainaka Sachi

* * *

The red Servant watched his golden Master sleep the sleep of the peaceful. Outside, the evening sky slowly transitioned into a rosy pink, heralding the rising sun.

 _Once, a lifetime ago, another Emiya Shirou watched another Arturia sleep._

Other than her appearance and her excellent swordsmanship, this human Arturia has not exhibited any of the other personality traits that the Heroic Spirit Arturia has shown in his old world—she was a much more normal girl, although her bringing up among a predominantly male household has certainly given her a masculine attitude. Of course, Archer mused, everything could be excused by her relatively mundane background in this world—but it was disconcerting to see the doll-like face of Arturia look upon him with so much innocence and none of the bloodlust that he has known her to show in certain memories of Emiya Shirou's past.

Archer wasn't sure if the fact that he was summoned in this world meant he had to go solve something, but as more time passed and the uneasy feeling grew stronger every moment, he started abandoning his first assumption that this was a random occurrence. Alaya was a thorough force. He would never have been sent here on a fluke.

Also, he just couldn't help but be disturbed at the method in which Arturia summoned him.

 _She hadn't used an apparent summoning circle. I wonder if my existence here is indicative of an abnormality in this world—on par with Arturia's existence._

 _In this world, did King Arthur even exist? Did Excalibur? Did… Emiya Shirou?_

Archer looked down at his tightly-clenched fist.

 _Will we even encounter my past self in this Holy Grail War? What about Rin?_

At the remembrance of Rin's name, he almost burst out into laughter, consideration for his tired Master the only thing stopping him. However, Rin's color, the brilliance of ruby, still burned in his eyes. The last memory that he had of the previous world was of Rin telling him that she will never let her world's Emiya Shirou grow up to be like him, Archer—a satisfactory outcome that has let him depart that world in peace with himself.

And now he was participating in what was technically his third Holy Grail War. However, the suspicious feeling persisted again—a feeling that somehow, something in this world is fundamentally fragmented, which effectively made it a much more dangerous place than all other worlds—

"Mm."

His Master Arturia was stirring slowly, sleepily. Archer smiled in spite of himself and reached out to sweep the stray hairs that had fallen into her face, but his finger stopped mere centimeters from her forehead—

"Arturia?"

A young boy of about sixteen years opened the door and looked all around the empty room before espying Arturia's sleeping form in the bed. Hearing his voice, Arturia finally awoke from her deep sleep.

"Bedivere?"

"Breakfast is ready." Bedivere smiled slightly. "Kay's left for work. What happened last night?"

"The usual." Arturia swept her legs off the bed and onto the floor, her toes curling upon contact with the chilly floor. "Thank you for waking me up."

"No prob, sis." Bedivere had a kind look as he turned and shut the door behind him.

"You guys seem close." Archer materialized again, making Arturia whip her head up in surprise. "Also, I did tell you to stop getting so startled. I have the annoying habit of popping when unwanted, you remember."

Arturia quickly pulled up the loose collar of her white nightgown when it threatened to slip and expose a delicate shoulder. "I had almost convinced myself that it had been all a dream," she said, in a low voice. "I suppose not… right?"

Archer just watched her as she stood up and quickly arranged her loose blonde hair into a simple braid that went down her back. "I'll just have breakfast." She looked dubiously up at his towering figure. "I haven't thought of this before, but in any case, do you need food, Archer?"

"Not really. I'm just a spirit, so your mana is enough for me." Archer gestured at the door. "Go ahead and eat. I'll just keep watch on the roof."

She nodded gravely and pattered to the door, and with a final swish of her pure white dress, she was gone.

Archer did as he said and positioned on the roof in his spirit form, his eyes picking out the river and Shinto on the other side. The modern buildings rose against the backdrop of the sharp wintry morning, glimmering darkly in the little light. On the highest buildings, red warning lights blinked softly. _We have to go to Shinto sometime_ , he mused, and then noticed the familiar austere manor on the top of the hill. _The Tohsaka residence_ , he thought with a sardonic smile. _No doubt, Rin is in this war as well. She has to be, what with her infamous gutsiness…_

 _Then, further down the hill should be the Matou—_

 _Wait._

Where the Matou residence should have been, an innocuous vacant lot was instead. Archer's eye twitched as his instincts told him again that there was something wrong.

 _What… happened? Does this mean—_

"Archer?"

Arturia's voice coming from below finally pulled Archer from his shock. Drifting down at Arturia's side, he was surprised to note a cup of green tea in her hands. Arturia was also already in her school uniform, which Archer noticed came in a deep blue— _this means we don't have to run into Rin or any of the potential Masters this morning, but it will still do to be careful_. Her white legs were clad in comely white socks.

"For you." Arturia coughed awkwardly and held out the cup in a rather brusque gesture. "I was about to use black tea, but then I figured that maybe you were more of a green tea person."

Archer looked askance at his Master, but accepted the cup. "Thanks. What made you say that, though?"

"What?"

"That you thought that I was more of a 'green tea person.' Which is not really wrong, by the way," he added hastily, seeing Arturia's expression.

"I—I don't know." Arturia sounded slightly confused by the question. "It just occurred to me."

 _Probably a coincidence. I should stop reading too much into things. This world is turning me crazy._

Archer sipped the tea and sighed as the warmth spread through his body, noting that this was probably the first time he had ever drunk the beverage again after quite a while. "Master, a word about today," he said, handing back the empty cup.

"What is it?" Arturia was already picking up her schoolbag. Archer noted that instead of an elaborate bun, her hair was in a simple ponytail, which accentuated her schoolgirl image.

"I'll accompany you to school to keep you safe. Later this evening, we have to check possible places where Masters might be present. I suggest we go into Shinto tonight."

Arturia scowled. "That's sensible. But Archer…"

Archer raised an eyebrow. "Are you perhaps hesitating to make the first move, Master?"

"Not at all. But as a Mage, I don't think I'll be sufficient enough to—"

"Don't worry." Archer sighed. "I don't think I can be summoned by anyone else but someone who has the willpower to back up their wishes."

"My… wishes?" Arturia looked disturbed. "I guess the Holy Grail is a wish-granting device after all…"

"Does that still seem so improbable to you, Master?" Archer's voice contained a slightly different emotion that Arturia can't quite identify. "Are the Command Seals on your hand and my materialization still not proof enough?"

"Yes, but you said that the Grail calls as Master one who has need of it." Arturia looked down at her hands. "I don't think I have wishes that I can't fulfill myself."

Archer looked shrewdly at her. "Pardon me for assuming this, Master, but aren't the boys who were clearly trying to molest you last night enough cause for a wish?"

Arturia's eyes widened in shock. "I—" She clenched her right hand, making the Command Seals stand out even more on her pale skin. "If that is the case…"

"Master…?" Archer prompted her, but Arturia shook her head hastily, as if one waking from a dream.

"Let's go to school, Archer," she said instead, and with a last perplexed glance at his Master, Archer melted into thin air.

* * *

The evening seemed subdued, the stars showing up clearly in the darkness of the sky. Arturia rode the bus to the commercial center of Fuyuki, with more than a little indecision in her heart. She could feel Archer's presence wandering about on the aisle, as if he was pacing back and forth. Arturia wondered if even the usually unruffled Archer was feeling the strange stillness of the night.

On her lap rested the sword from her room. Archer had brought it to her after class, and now its comforting weight on her thighs made Arturia gather a little confidence.

 _As long as I hold this sword… as long as I wield this blade…_

When they finally reached their stop, Arturia started to walk forward into the bright street flooded with streetlights and the occasional loiterer, but she suddenly heard Archer's voice in her head—

[Master, I think we're better off staging a lookout on the bridge over Mion River after all.]

"What is it, Archer?"

[A Servant's already occupying the most ideal vantage point in this city, and we're going to intrude upon their field of vision if we so much as walked one more step. I have a shrewd idea of who its Master is—only one can boast such strategic familiarity with the map.]

Arturia glanced at the tallest building among the clustered skyscrapers in the distance—the Central Building. It flashed lazy red warning lights. "Is it a Master from among the three families you have warned me about earlier?"

[Yes.] Archer seemed to hesitate. [But I think we don't have to worry about one of those families any longer, if I am correct.]

"Alright. I won't ask you to explain right now since the current situation is serious." Arturia took a deep breath. "Take me to the bridge then, Archer."

Without another word, Archer materialized and scooped her up in his arms, before launching off from the ground and soaring into the night.

* * *

The Fuyuki Bridge is arguably the most iconic feature of the city besides the Mion River, with impressive red steel arcing hundreds of feet from the road. Archer and Arturia settled on a steel beam to look over the city, the lights from the street below illuminating their faces eerily.

"I can probably mount an attack from here," Archer mused aloud, and Arturia glanced at the Central Building's blinking red glow in the distance. "Meanwhile, Master, I think that you should probably try to bring pants next time."

"What?" At this out-of-place suggestion, Arturia looked down at her skirt, which was getting lifted by the strong air current. Flushing a slight pink, she slapped her skirt down. "You should probably keep your eyes on the enemy, Archer."

"I am, Master." There was a trace of laughter in his voice, but at his next words, his tone became much steelier. "I think you should prepare and keep your guard up. The enemy is stirring."

"So they've seen us after all." Arturia gripped her sword tighter. "Very well, Archer."

He looked at her steadily. "Perhaps it wouldn't help much, but… allow me, Master." He placed his hand over the wrapped sword, to Arturia's surprise. From his arm, thin green circuits streamed down and made an electric crackle at the place where the sword made contact with Archer's hand. "Strengthening magic," he said. "You're hardly a Mage, so I think it's better to support whatever little weapons you have. This is a bit contrary to normal Master-Servant relationships, but my job is to help you stay alive. It will serve."

Arturia looked down at her sword. It didn't seem different at all to her eyes, but Archer's words rang true. "I'm grateful, Archer."

"Save it when that sword saves your life." Archer gripped the air, and a slim black bow appeared in his hand. Arturia registered a dark shape flying towards them—

 _Fwipfwipfwip_

Archer had released several shots of light in the next instant, but—

 _"_ _Master!"_

Arturia found herself being shoved aside, her view filled with Archer's back as he strained at the enemy that has so suddenly appeared. Instead of the bow earlier, however, in Archer's hands were a pair of short blades, black and white. They were jagged at the edges, as though something had chipped away at them. To her trepidation, Arturia realized that maybe it was the work of the enemy that now stood before them.

"Not bad."

The enemy Servant leapt back, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Unlike Archer, whose aura was like that of a calm and calculating tiger, the unknown Servant seemed more like a snake that was about to strike the unprepared, tensed for the kill. At his hand, a small sword gleamed, while at his hip, Arturia was surprised to note—

"Two swords." Archer growled. "I have plenty of reason to assume that you're Saber."

"Indeed, I am of the Saber-class in this war." The enemy Servant smiled slightly, cockily, issuing a nonverbal challenge. "However, as I'm already occupying the class, I don't think there's any room to call you another Saber with your two swords as well, Archer. Those were your arrows earlier."

"My bad, I am but a greedy fellow. It's hasty to guess what my class is from those arrows." Archer raised an eyebrow. "But I don't think I'll tarry long enough for you to figure out which class I truly am."

Saber stepped forward, challengingly, his brow furrowed at Archer's evasive reply. Arturia noted his dark green armor, providing a nice contrast to the tanned skin that glowed with the smattering of electric lights from below. His face was infinitely beautiful, with golden eyes that reminded one of a lion, and just below his right eye—

"Master." Archer flung out an arm, interrupting her view of the enemy's face. "Best not look at his face too closely, or I'll find myself in a dire situation."

"Situation?"

"A curse—"

—But before Archer can respond satisfactorily to Arturia's question, Saber has already made his move, grabbing the shorter sword at his right hip, he rushed forward—

CLANG! The speed was such that one was instantly aware of how inhuman the swordplay between the two Servants was. In the space of a moment, Archer and Saber might have crossed swords twice, thrice. Archer's sword had already broken in half during the clash—

"Tch." Archer sounded as if he was merely frustrated rather than frantic.

Arturia grit her teeth. A split second later, it seemed as if the two Servants just disappeared and reappeared with their swords clashing together— Archer had a new blade in his hand, which she dimly appreciated as odd—

 _"_ _Gandr!"_ —a girl's voice, which was suddenly behind her— Instictively, Arturia dove sideways—

 _Crack!_ The steel railing that she was standing on a second earlier was dented heavily by a weird, bullet-like black orb—

"Oh, good. That means you at least have good reflexes. This shan't be too boring then."

Arturia looked up at where the girl who just shot at her stood. Conventionally pretty with sharp green eyes and abundant dark waves gathered in twin tails, the young girl who was apparently the Master of Saber stood a ways behind her, her left arm raised as if ready for a second blow. Beneath her red sleeve, a Magic Crest glowed through the cloth.

"I guess you attend the other school down the river," the red-clad Master commented, noticing Arturia's uniform. "So that's why I don't recognize you. You would have been really popular if you went to my school, what with those looks."

Scowling, Arturia wordlessly unwrapped the cloth off her sword and unsheathed it. There was no need for words from her.

The red Master seemed surprised. "I see you have something else to try and fight me with. Perhaps like me, you are the heiress of a magic family?"

Arturia raised her sword in reply. The orange lamplight made the blade look as if it were made of gold. "My name is Arturia Pendragon. I don't see why I should reveal any more about me."

"Fair enough." The red Master smirked. "I can only say that it's a pity. I don't have a choice but to kill a pretty young girl like you now."

Gritting her teeth, Arturia braced her feet on the ground, ready to charge. _No one gets to define me. Not Kay, not you._

"I am Tohsaka Rin, the heiress of the Tohsaka family, caretakers of this city." The red Master pointed her left hand at Arturia. The curse started to gather at her fingertips. "As a welcoming gift… die."


End file.
